Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parenting Stress, Family Functioning and Health-Related Quality of Life

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is 1 in 110 persons in the U.S. Both parents of children with ASD are under stress that may impact their health-related quality of life (HRQL) (physical and mental health). The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationship of parenting stress, support from family functioning and the HRQL (physical and mental health) of both parents. Female (n = 64) and male (n = 64) parents of children with ASD completed Web-based surveys examining parenting stress, family functioning, and physical and mental health. Results of a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test showed that female parent discrepant (D) scores between “what is” and “should be” family functioning were significantly larger than male parents, p = .002. Results of stepwise linear regression for the male-female partners showed that (1) higher female caregiving stress was related to lower female physical health (p \u3c .001), (2) a higher discrepancy score in family functioning predicted lower mental health (p \u3c .001), accounting for 31% of the variance for females and (3) male parent personal and family life stress (p \u3c .001) and family functioning discrepant (D) score (p \u3c .001) predicted poor mental health, with the discrepancy score accounting for 35% of the variance. These findings suggest that there may be differences in mothers\u27 and fathers\u27 perceptions and expectations about family functioning and this difference needs to be explored and applied when working with families of children with ASD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Lack of Father Involvement in Research on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Maternal Parenting Stress and Family Functioning

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has an estimated prevalence of greater than 1% of people in the US. Caring for children with ASD is stressful and challenging for parents. The purpose of the study is to understand the ramifications of the findings of a spouse/father\u27s lack of participation for a study focused on stress and family functioning that attempted to recruit both parents of a child with ASD. The Kruskal-Wallis test compared medians of three groups of mothers of children with ASD in order to assess differences in parenting stress and family functioning discrepancy depending on their marital status and spouse survey participation. There were differences across the groups of mothers of children with ASD for the discrepancy in expectations for help, from the participants’ spouse or relatives, with family tasks, meeting the demands of other work responsibilities, child care, challenging behaviors, and school absences. Mothers of children with ASD are at risk for isolation and stress from negotiating family functions with the fathers of the children. Health care providers can assess for stress and family functioning and may anticipate different needs based on marital status and by father\u27s involvement in decision-making. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder of communication, behavior, and socialization, with typical onset occurring before three years of age (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Four times more common in boys than girls, the prevalence of ASD is increasing and is now estimated to be 1/88 people (\u3e1% of the US population) (Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network Surveillance Principal Investigators, 2012). Persons with ASDs present with a range in severity of symptoms with the cause thought to be a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors (Hallmayer et al., 2011; Rutter, 2005). Although ASD is not curable, there are several treatment options with a range of evidence to support them (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2011)

Evaluation of an Intimate Partner Violence Curriculum in a Pediatric Hospital

OBJECTIVE. Intimate partner violence harms victims as well as families and communities. Many barriers account for limited intimate partner violence screening by nurses. The purpose of this study was to measure how participation in a curriculum about screening parents for intimate partner violence, at a pediatric hospital, affects a nurse\u27s knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and self-efficacy for intimate partner violence screening. METHODS. In this interventional, longitudinal study, data were collected before participation in an intimate partner violence screening curriculum, after participation, and 3 months later. The measurement tool was adapted from Maiuro\u27s (2000) Self-efficacy for Screening for Intimate Partner Violence Questionnaire. RESULTS. Sixty-eight pediatric nurses completed all aspects of the study. At baseline, 18 (27%) nurses self-reported seeing a parent with an injury, and of those only 7 (39%) followed up with intimate partner violence screening. Factor analysis was performed on the baseline Self-efficacy for Screening for Intimate Partner Violence Questionnaire by using varimax rotation. Five factors were identified: conflict, fear of offending parent, self-confidence, appropriateness, and attitude. Only fear of offending parent was significantly different from times 1 to 3, indicating that nurses were less fearful after the training. Cronbach\u27s α value for the total questionnaire at baseline was .85. Nurses reported significant improvement (baseline to 3-month follow-up) in several self-efficacy items. CONCLUSIONS. Participation in a 30-minute curriculum on intimate partner violence screening was associated with improvements in self-efficacy and significantly lower fear of offending parents 3 months after training. Nurses also showed improvement in the perception of resources available for nurses to manage intimate partner violence. Thirty-minute hospital-based curriculums that include victim testimonial video and practice role-playing to simulate parent interactions are recommended

Association between antibody responses post-vaccination and severe COVID-19 outcomes in Scotland

Several population-level studies have described individual clinical risk factors associated with suboptimal antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccination, but none have examined multimorbidity. Others have shown that suboptimal post-vaccination responses offer reduced protection to subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, the level of protection from COVID-19 hospitalisation/death remains unconfirmed. We use national Scottish datasets to investigate the association between multimorbidity and testing antibody-negative, examining the correlation between antibody levels and subsequent COVID-19 hospitalisation/death among double-vaccinated individuals. We found that individuals with multimorbidity ( ≥ five conditions) were more likely to test antibody-negative post-vaccination and 13.37 [6.05–29.53] times more likely to be hospitalised/die from COVID-19 than individuals without conditions. We also show a dose-dependent association between post-vaccination antibody levels and COVID-19 hospitalisation or death, with those with undetectable antibody levels at a significantly higher risk (HR 9.21 [95% CI 4.63–18.29]) of these serious outcomes compared to those with high antibody levels

Association between antibody responses post-vaccination and severe COVID-19 outcomes in Scotland

Funding: This study is part of the EAVE II project. EAVE II is funded by the MRC (MC_PC_19075) with the support of BREATHE—The Health Data Research Hub for Respiratory Health (MC_PC_19004), which is funded through the UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and delivered through Health Data Research UK. Additional funding for this work was received by National Core Studies Immunity. This research is part of the Data and Connectivity National Core Study, led by Health Data Research UK in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and funded by UK Research and Innovation (grant ref MC_PC_20058). Additional support has been provided through Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Government Director General Health and Social Care and the University of Edinburgh. The original EAVE project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (11/46/23). SVK acknowledges funding from the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/2), the Scottish Government Chief Scient Office (SPHSU17) and a NHS Research Scotland Senior Clinical Fellowship (SCAF/15/02).Several population-level studies have described individual clinical risk factors associated with suboptimal antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccination, but none have examined multimorbidity. Others have shown that suboptimal post-vaccination responses offer reduced protection to subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, the level of protection from COVID-19 hospitalisation/death remains unconfirmed. We use national Scottish datasets to investigate the association between multimorbidity and testing antibody-negative, examining the correlation between antibody levels and subsequent COVID-19 hospitalisation/death among double-vaccinated individuals. We found that individuals with multimorbidity (≥ five conditions) were more likely to test antibody-negative post-vaccination and 13.37 [6.05–29.53] times more likely to be hospitalised/die from COVID-19 than individuals without conditions. We also show a dose-dependent association between post-vaccination antibody levels and COVID-19 hospitalisation or death, with those with undetectable antibody levels at a significantly higher risk (HR 9.21 [95% CI 4.63–18.29]) of these serious outcomes compared to those with high antibody levels.Peer reviewe

Nanopore native RNA sequencing of a human poly(A) transcriptome

High-throughput complementary DNA sequencing technologies have advanced our understanding of transcriptome complexity and regulation. However, these methods lose information contained in biological RNA because the copied reads are often short and modifications are not retained. We address these limitations using a native poly(A) RNA sequencing strategy developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Our study generated 9.9 million aligned sequence reads for the human cell line GM12878, using thirty MinION flow cells at six institutions. These native RNA reads had a median length of 771 bases, and a maximum aligned length of over 21,000 bases. Mitochondrial poly(A) reads provided an internal measure of read-length quality. We combined these long nanopore reads with higher accuracy short-reads and annotated GM12878 promoter regions to identify 33,984 plausible RNA isoforms. We describe strategies for assessing 3′ poly(A) tail length, base modifications and transcript haplotypes

Effects of partial sleep restriction on biological markers of cardiovascular risk: Evidence of differential vulnerability within a healthy population

Accumulating epidemiological evidence suggests a relationship between short sleep duration and cardiovascular disease. The biological mechanisms underlying this relationship, however, are not yet fully understood. The three studies contained in this dissertation will contribute to our overall understanding of this relationship. In the first study, the effects of partial restriction on plasma leptin were examined. Contrary to previous research, it was observed that five nights of partial sleep restriction significantly increased plasma leptin levels. Increases were significantly greater among women, a population that has been inadequately represented in prior studies. Additionally, it was observed that recovery sleep, compared to further sleep restriction, decreased plasma leptin levels. The second study focused on the effects of sleep restriction on adiponectin. This study is the first to document changes in adiponectin levels in response to sleep restriction. Notably, a strong sex by ethnicity interaction was observed, in which female participants were observed to have significant changes in adiponectin: levels in Caucasian women decreased significantly while levels in African American women increased significantly. These changes could not be explained through differences in body mass index. The third study examined the effects of sleep restriction on levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, and cortisol. Sleep restriction did not significantly change CRP levels in the total sample; however, levels of IL-6 and cortisol increased and differential vulnerability were observed for both IL-6 and cortisol. Further, a subset of the healthy participants was found to be in the \u27high risk for future cardiovascular events\u27 category, based on baseline CRP levels; this population responded differently to the effects of sleep restriction compared to those participants with \u27normal\u27 baseline CRP levels. Results from these studies provide preliminary evidence for a differential vulnerability to the effects of sleep restriction on biological markers of cardiovascular risk. In particular, women appear to have a more reactive adipocyte-derived response to sleep restriction, although the directionality of effects with respect to subsequent effects on health may be related to race/ethnicity in some domains. These findings suggest a more complex relationship between sleep duration and cardiovascular risk than has been previously proposed

Mothers’ Postpartum Sleep Disturbance is Associated with the Ability to Sustain Sensitivity toward Infants

Infancy is a period of rapid development when the quality of caregiving behavior may be particularly consequential for children’s long-term functioning. During this critical period for caregiving behavior, parents experience changes in their sleep that may affect their ability to provide sensitive care. The current study investigated the association of mothers’ sleep disturbance with both levels and trajectories of maternal sensitivity during interactions with their infants. At 18 weeks postpartum, mothers and their infants were observed during a home-based ten-minute “free play” interaction. Mothers’ nighttime sleep was objectively measured using actigraphy and subjectively measured using sleep diaries. Maternal sensitivity was coded in two-minute intervals in order to characterize changes in sensitivity across the free play interaction. We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the objective and subjective measures of mothers’ sleep, identifying a subjective sleep disturbance and an objective sleep continuity factor. Using multi-level modeling, we found that mothers with poorer objective sleep continuity evidenced decreasing sensitivity toward their infants across the interaction. Mothers’ self-reports of sleep disturbance were not associated with maternal sensitivity. Although future research is necessary to identify the mechanisms that may explain the observed association between poor sleep continuity and the inability to sustain sensitivity toward infants, mothers’ postpartum sleep continuity may be one factor to consider when designing interventions to improve the quality of caregiving

Mothers’ Postpartum Sleep Disturbance is Associated with the Ability to Sustain Sensitivity toward Infants

Infancy is a period of rapid development when the quality of caregiving behavior may be particularly consequential for children’s long-term functioning. During this critical period for caregiving behavior, parents experience changes in their sleep that may affect their ability to provide sensitive care. The current study investigated the association of mothers’ sleep disturbance with both levels and trajectories of maternal sensitivity during interactions with their infants. At 18 weeks postpartum, mothers and their infants were observed during a home-based ten-minute “free play” interaction. Mothers’ nighttime sleep was objectively measured using actigraphy and subjectively measured using sleep diaries. Maternal sensitivity was coded in two-minute intervals in order to characterize changes in sensitivity across the free play interaction. We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the objective and subjective measures of mothers’ sleep, identifying a subjective sleep disturbance and an objective sleep continuity factor. Using multi-level modeling, we found that mothers with poorer objective sleep continuity evidenced decreasing sensitivity toward their infants across the interaction. Mothers’ self-reports of sleep disturbance were not associated with maternal sensitivity. Although future research is necessary to identify the mechanisms that may explain the observed association between poor sleep continuity and the inability to sustain sensitivity toward infants, mothers’ postpartum sleep continuity may be one factor to consider when designing interventions to improve the quality of caregiving